L&D Trends 2025: AI Takes the Lead

In 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) will take center stage in Learning & Development, transforming both the tools we use and the way we learn. Explore the latest L&D Trends 2025 with insights from Thomas Bergen, CEO and co-founder of getAbstract.

As many as 45 percent of German companies already use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, DeepL or Microsoft Copilot. This has recently changed the working environment of many employees significantly and increased the need for further training on the subject of AI. A lack of knowledge is demonstrably one of the main reasons for the non-use of AI. However, the use of AI-based tools is crucial for a company’s long-term success and competitiveness. If you want to exploit the efficiency potential of AI, you must therefore support your employees in mastering their new, individual requirements.

But not only further training on AI, but also with the help of AI will play a decisive role in 2025. AI-supported programs offer the possibility of customizing learning content, thus making the qualification process more efficient and targeted – a trend that L&D managers can hardly ignore if they want to ensure the future viability of their employees and their company.

Skills gap as a major challenge

Employees have also recognized the need to take a close look at the strategic topic of AI. 74 percent of German employees already use or are interested in relevant training opportunities. However, according to a TÜV study, only one in eight companies has so far offered their employees AI training. This results in a large gap that L&D departments will close in 2025.

One challenge with AI is that learning needs can vary widely within an organization. The skills needed by the workforce depend on who is using which AI tools and in which work steps and tasks the AI is supposed to provide support. It is important to recognize the individual desires, requirements and needs of employees and to support them with suitable programs.

Skill maps can be used to identify and address the (missing) skills of an individual or group in a targeted manner. The first step for companies is to identify the skills required for a specific role or function, either through a workplace analysis, an examination of industry standards or best practices. The individual or team is then assessed to determine their existing skills. The results are incorporated into a skills map that is used to identify both existing skills and knowledge and training and development needs.

Personalized learning is the be-all and end-all

Another option for personalized learning: AI to create individual learning paths. Although personalizing learning content was cited in a survey by an international e-learning provider as one of the most important expectations of AI, the data shows that only just under a quarter of respondents are already using AI to personalize learning content. Thus, there is still great potential for growth in this area.

In the future, learning platforms will use AI to tailor learning content to the needs of individual employees, creating highly personalized learning experiences. An AI can analyze the performance, strengths, and missing skills of learners and then customize and continuously update the learning content, paths, and speed.

This method can significantly accelerate the learning process and improve learning success. Companies that are already successfully using AI report lower costs and better learning outcomes for their employees. The prerequisite for this is a carefully selected and curated database in order to benefit from high-quality results and high-performance AI tutors.

By using AI in a targeted way for their training programs and offering employees appropriate opportunities, companies can kill several birds with one stone: employee satisfaction increases, employees become more loyal to the company and acquire the skills they need to contribute to the company’s long-term success.

Human intelligence: how AI inspires

AI tools can reliably perform previously tedious and detailed tasks such as calculations, analyses or content creation in a matter of seconds. For employees, this support means mental relief and an enormous gain in time. The capacities freed up as a result should be used as efficiently and profitably as possible.

In 2025, employees will therefore focus on the critical human skills needed to make optimal use of the output of new AI tools. Entrepreneurial and critical thinking, as well as independent creativity, are skills that an AI cannot learn. Employees will therefore increasingly become important sources of inspiration, using the input from AI to focus more on their innovative and creative power.

In addition, flexibility and adaptability will become indispensable core competencies in 2025. Our world will continue to become more digital and more global, which will bring us new challenges. People who are good at adapting will cope better with disruptive technologies. This makes them valuable employees and opens up many career paths for them.

L&D Trends 2025 – Conclusion

AI will continue to conquer the world of work in 2025 and keep us on our toes with disruptive innovations. For employees, this ongoing change means a major effort that demands a great deal of openness and flexibility. Not everyone whose job profile will change in the next year currently has the necessary skills.

A successful L&D strategy recognizes the skills gap of employees and addresses the resulting training needs. It puts the individual needs of each employee at the center and creates a corporate culture in which lifelong self-directed learning is a matter of course. It is the job of L&D managers to integrate AI meaningfully into the workplace so that learners can develop in the best possible way and be ready for the world of work in 2025.

Please also read the following articles:

• Unleash Potential: Three High-Impact Levers for a Thriving Learning Culture
• “Kill a Stupid Rule!”: Get Rid of Internal Ballast

Thomas Bergen

Thomas Bergen is co-founder and CEO of getAbstract, a global leader in condensed learning, as well as chairman of Amphasys and founder of HopeNow, an entrepreneurial collective seeking solutions to climate change.

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